Baseball’s 6th Tool

Since the Earliest baseball legends began breaking records, transforming into heroes and inspiring nations, there was an element to these player’s success that for the most part have been overlooked by society in how their success is achieved in the game of baseball.

I’m talking about a tool that the greatest players have utilized whether they have known it or not. It’s more powerful than having a cannon for an arm because it can help you achieve it. It’s more consistent than speed and even more dangerous than incredible hand eye coordination. It fact it will give the talent to be a great hitter that none of the best baseball hitting drills can even think to offer.

This is the most powerful tool and if it is truly mastered and used consistently will provide you with the ability to continue to develop as a player.

This power comes from the actual images you have in your mind. When you see yourself as someone who has a great arm, run faster, play smarter, and develop the right social relationships, you are demonstrating this power.

This power is called visualization.

In an interview, when Hank Aaron was asked what was the most important element to his success, after all the home runs he hit, what approach would he recommend.

He said simply” visualization”.

He was a master of rehearsing success. By the time he came to the plate, he knew he would hit the ball hard because he had just finished doing it a dozen times in his mind before the game even started.

The power of visualization comes from mental pictures in your head, but it is also much more than that. It’s a powerful process that is effecting every aspect of your life.

Both on and off the field.

The truth is, there is more and more evidence that supports this law, in which we are in a constant process of creating our own personal realities fueled by our thoughts. If we think a certain way, our life will support that belief.

For example, if I think of myself as an average hitter while on occasion imagining my self striking out and reminding myself how embarrassing and hopeless that makes me feel, that thought and image in my mind is a creation and I will probably continue to be an average hitter.

There is a whole universe out there that is constantly giving us what we ask for. The problem is it reacts to our conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings. It responds to both our positive and negative thoughts. If you want to increase your velocity but you’re still having images of yourself as a person who doesn’t have the gift of a strong arm, guess what? That’s what you will create.

Why not dedicate yourself to visualizing your skills like that of the greatest players that have ever lived?!

In time guess what will happen? Progress will happen.

Take a look at you current situation as a baseball player and know that whatever situation you’re in it’s a result of the type of thoughts you had in the past, and the type of thoughts you are having now are currently creating your future

At this moment, there are people overcoming illnesses, creating new relationships, acquiring wealth, and achieving life long goals (like adding 5 mph to their fastball;) by changing the images they have in there mind to only things they want to attract into their lives and off of things they no longer want or need to avoid.

This game has the potential to give you everything you could ever desire, but you have to be willing to control your thoughts and dedicate yourself to positive thought to create positive experiences.

You can and will achieve success!

It may be true that each player has a limit to what there potential is but more importantly, most players never stop learning and ultimately never reach there true potential. Many retired Major Leaguers claim to have still been learning and developing themselves as players, and for some, that’s after 20 years in the game. So depending on your perspective, your potential is limitless.

With all the challenges that baseball offers us and after all the hard work we put in, we will get the most out of our baseball experiences when when learn the power of choice. After hours of tee ball drills, and running sprints, we still have to have a disciplined thought process and perception of ourselves.

We will always have the power to choose how to react to what life brings us. We will always have the power to choose what to think.

Let them be thoughts inspired by courage and made with faith in our talent and ability.